{"id":680,"date":"2019-11-25T11:12:09","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T18:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/?p=680"},"modified":"2019-11-25T11:12:09","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T18:12:09","slug":"4-ways-to-eat-more-fruits-and-veggies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/4-ways-to-eat-more-fruits-and-veggies\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways to Eat More Fruits and Veggies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u201cYou should really eat fewer fruit and vegetables,&#8221; said no one ever!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe you hate them with a passion or you can\u2019t get enough of them! Either way, you can adapt your palate to crave fruits and vegetables&#8230;if you get creative with them. The key is to think outside the box and find ways to make them taste GOOD!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can\u2019t think of anything? Allow me to get the ball rolling with some fun and creative ideas for adding fruits and veggies to your daily meals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-landscape-image wp-image-681 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/05-cuisine-art_10072014_29839059092_o-464x348.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/05-cuisine-art_10072014_29839059092_o-464x348.jpeg 464w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/05-cuisine-art_10072014_29839059092_o-800x600.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/05-cuisine-art_10072014_29839059092_o-232x174.jpeg 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/>We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for you because they provide essential vitamins and minerals. But there are many other benefits to incorporating them into your life.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If it\u2019s cold and flu season, grab some strawberries or bell peppers to get your daily dose of Vitamin C.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eat a mango or a handful of carrots to get your some Vitamin A to keep your skin glowing and eyesight sharp.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you need to power through a two-hour lecture, grab an apple or a dark leafy green salad to provide fiber to keep you feeling full and satisfied.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Now let\u2019s get into some really practical how-to tips:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>1.Disguise them<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><b>Breakfast:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Smoothies.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Of course fruits make great smoothies, but some veggies do to. Try a handful of one of your favorite leafy greens like spinach, kale or avocado. Both options are flavorless in a smoothie and blend easily.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Oatmeal, granola and cereal.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Add fruit such as bananas, berries, and raisins to any bowl.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Pancakes. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Top pancakes with bananas or berries before you add the syrup or throw strawberries or blueberries into your blender with syrup to make your own fruit-enhanced syrup.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Lunch:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Sandwiches.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If sandwiches are your thing, add in a leafy green, sliced bell pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, cabbage, or cucumbers for an added crunch and crisp. For PB&amp;J, cut up a banana and add it into your sandwich.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Dinner:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Add veggies to chili or soup.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There is nothing better than making a big pot of hot deliciousness. Cooking vegetables in a flavorful stew is a great way to get in a variety of vitamin-packed goodness.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Stir fry &amp; pasta dishes. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s easy to add veggies-galore to stir fry and pasta dishes. Just saute them in a little olive oil and dust some salt and pepper on top and throw them in.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Pizza. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Top pizza with veggies and add a side salad.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Tacos. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salsa, tomatoes, beans, avocados, lettuce or cabbage can give your tacos a veggie boost.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Dessert:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throw in a fruit to your favorite loaf or pudding.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cover some bananas in melted chocolate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>2. Swap as a replacement<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you own a spiralizer or peeler, swap traditional pasta for zucchini or carrot noodles.\u00a0 If you do not have a spiralizer, spaghetti squash is a great replacement for pasta as well. All you need to do is cut it in half, pour some olive oil on top, bake it, scrape it out, and voila you have spaghetti noodles!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These vegetables are lower in calories than traditional pasta, so you may want to add a larger portion of your sauce or protein than you normally add to make it a hearty meal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or, simply mix these veggie noodles in with your regular pasta for a 50-50 mix.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>3. Flavor and pair them<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who said fruits and vegetables have to be boring? Here are a few tips to spice things up.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sprinkle a dash of cinnamon or Tajin seasoning to any fruit and you will be impressed with how it tastes. Or dip fruit in yogurt or chocolate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dip your favorite sliced veggies in hummus, salsa, ranch dressing, or guacamole for a little added flavor.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or try dipping strawberries, bananas, or carrots in almond or peanut butter.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Douse your veggies in olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper, and roast them in the oven for a mouth watering delicacy. (To roast veggies, toss them with olive oil, salt &amp; pepper, place on a greased pan (or use parchment paper) and cook 15-20 minutes on 400 degree oven.) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>4. Prep ahead of time<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prepping your fruits and vegetables ahead of time will make it so much easier to add to meals. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Roast vegetables in the oven and put them in a container in the fridge and add them to your plate throughout the week.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freeze individual bags of fruit and vegetables, especially if they start to get a little too ripe. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and stick your cookie sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, collect and stick in zip lock bags. You can even make little bags of frozen fruits\/veggies for every day of the week to add to your smoothies.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For snacks, make tupperwares of your ready-to-go fruits and vegetables with your favorite dip or seasoning so you can easily grab them on the go.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- shortcode-image-callout -->\n<span class=\"shortcode-image-callout shortcode-image-callout--left\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/meet-our-coaches\/\">    <span class=\"shortcode-image-callout__outer-container\">\n        <span class=\"shortcode-image-callout__container\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-portrait-image wp-image-602\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/174\/IMG_2059-e1568470841250-300x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\">\n                        <span class=\"shortcode-image-callout__header-container\">\n                <span>Ary Spilkin, Health Coach<\/span>\n            <\/span>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/span>\n    <\/a><\/span>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u201cYou should really eat fewer fruit and vegetables,&#8221; said no one ever! Maybe you hate them with a passion or you can\u2019t get enough of them! Either way, you can adapt your palate to crave fruits and vegetables&#8230;if you get creative with them. The key is to think outside the box and find ways to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/ucan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}